“How on earth does this thing work?”
Mistress Elaina was immensely curious about the crying umbrella. It was a very unusual item. As soon as she carried it back to her room at the inn, she wiped off the rainwater and observed it from all angles while opening and closing it.
By the way, this is a little off topic, but apparently during an investigation, observing the outward appearance of something is an extremely important component of the research. Mistress Elaina told me that once. By observing how something looks on the outside, you can get a general understanding of what kind of thing it is, she said.
Accordingly, whenever Mistress Elaina was examining something, she always started by taking a good look at the outside.
When she was talking to me about that, I took the liberty of telling her, from the perspective of an object, “But even among objects like me, there are some who are shy, so please don’t stare at anything too hard.”
Perhaps Mistress Elaina had forgotten the conversation we’d had at that time.
“Where exactly is it crying from…?”
She tried poking it, running her hand over it, and patting it. She investigated every fold of the umbrella, going over the whole thing. The flames of her curiosity were fully ignited.
I was observing Mistress Elaina doing this when I suddenly realized something.
“Mistress Elaina, by any chance, are you unable to hear the umbrella’s voice?”
I cocked my head to the side, and Mistress Elaina did the same, like a mirror image.
“Its voice? No, if you’re talking about the crying, I’ve been hearing that this whole time.”
“Crying, you say? You don’t mean like when someone is crying tears?”
“That is what I mean, but…”
“I see.” It took me a long time to finally realize it. “So then do you mean that to your ears, the umbrella’s voice sounds like the crying of an animal?”
“…? Yeah, well… I’m hearing a crying voice like a puppy whining, but is that different from what you hear, Miss Broom?” she asked me.
It certainly is.
“To me, it sounds like an ordinary human voice.”
I nodded and looked at the umbrella.
“Ahhhhh! Stop it! Where do you think you’re looking?! Just who do you think I am?! Excuse you!”
Miss Umbrella was shouting at Mistress Elaina, who kept rudely slapping at her folds.
“By the way, Mistress Elaina, what kind of noise is the umbrella making now?” I asked.
“It’s saying ‘a-woo.’ ”
“It’s howling?”
“Is that not what it’s doing?”
“As a matter of fact, it’s saying something completely different.”
It had become clear that there was apparently a large gulf between my perception and Mistress Elaina’s.
“Stop it! A human like this shouldn’t be opening umbrellas!”
“My goodness. It’s crying out in such a sweet voice. It must be pleased.”
“It’s furious.”
“Will you give it a rest already?! Don’t think you’ll get away with doing something like—kyah! Stop it! Where are you touching—?”
“What’s this? The umbrella’s cries suddenly became more mellow, didn’t they? By any chance, is it warming up to me?”
“No, it’s furious with you.”
“Grr… I’ve never been so violated in all my life—fine, then. I’m resigned to my fate. Go on! Do your worst! Boil me, burn me, hold me over your head!”
“Oh, that time I could tell it was angry, though.”
“Actually, depending on how you interpret it, that time it sounded like it might be a little bit pleased.”
Mistress Elaina looked confused by my answer.
“This is all very complicated…”
I nodded.
“Many umbrellas have prickly personalities.”
“Sigh… Is that so?” Mistress Elaina nodded.
It was then that Mistress Elaina threw out the most basic of questions. “By the way, exactly why was Miss Umbrella here abandoned?”
Certainly, that’s something I’ve been curious about as well.
“Why was it?” I asked Miss Umbrella.
“Huuuh? What do you mean? I won’t have some broom asking me that!”
Interesting.
“It doesn’t seem to want to answer.”
“Interesting.”
Mistress Elaina mercilessly flapped the umbrella open and shut.
“Noooooo! I’ll talk! I’ll talk, okay, so stop that!”
Whoa.
“Well then, Miss Umbrella. What exactly happened to you?”
“Ohhhhhh… And I used to have such a good owner, too… Now this weird woman is messing with me…”
“What did she say?”
“Now she’s really crying.”
The drops of water that had been clinging to the umbrella were shaken loose by all the flapping and spattered onto the floor.
“Were those tears the whole time?”
Mistress Elaina folded Miss Umbrella up in a hurry, and she began her story.